The Trump administration has detained a Tufts University graduate student exactly one year after she coauthored a plea for "the equal dignity and humanity of all people," including Palestinians.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a native of Turkey, was "ambushed" late Tuesday outside her apartment, according to a statement that her attorney provided to The Boston Globe. Neighbors had seen agents in unmarked cars monitoring her apartment for two days prior to the arrest, the outlet reported.
Her arrest comes after the pro-Israel group Canary Mission flagged Ozturk for having "engaged in anti-Israel activism in March 2024."
That activism, according to the group, consisted entirely of co-authoring an op-ed in The Tufts Daily, a student newspaper, in which she and three other graduate students called on the school to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide" and divest from companies with ties to Israel, as called for in resolutions passed by the student Senate.
"We, as graduate students, affirm the equal dignity and humanity of all people," the students wrote in the article, published March 26, 2024.
Tufts University President Sunil Kumar acknowledged Ozturk's arrest in a Tuesday night statement that identified her only as an "international graduate student."
"From what we've been told subsequently, the student's visa has been terminated, and we seek to confirm whether that information is true," Kumar said.
Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk's attorney, told Salon that her client has a valid F-1 student visa and was "heading to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast" when she was detained by DHS agents outside her home.
"We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her. No charges have been filed against [her] that we are aware of," Khanbabai said in a statement.
In a statement to Salon, a Trump administration spokesperson asserted, without providing evidence, that "DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas." The spokesperson did not suggest Ozturk had committed any crime, and confirmed that she had permission to be in the U.S. as a foreign student, but said that a "visa is a privilege, not a right."
"Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated," the spokesperson said. "This is commonsense security.”
As of Wednesday morning, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee database identified Ozturk as being "In ICE Custody." It did not list a location. (As of Wednesday evening, the database listed her as being detained at an ICE processing center in Louisiana.)
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On Tuesday night, Khanbabai filed a habeas petition on Ozturk's behalf, seeking to prevent her from being transported out of state. That request was granted by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who in a court order declared that Ozturk "shall not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without first providing advance notice of the intended move."
Ozturk is the latest foreign-born student to be targeted by the Trump administration for speech critical of Israel. Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident and student at Columbia University, was arrested earlier this month and accused, without evidence, of being a supporter of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza. Another permanent resident and Columbia University student, Yunseo Chung, has also been targeted for potential removal, according to her attorneys, although she has not yet been detained.
Badar Khan Suri, a student at Georgetown University, was also detained earlier this month and accused without evidence of supporting Hamas. A judge has at least temporarily blocked his deportation.
Ozturk's arrest has spurred calls for protest, with activists circling a flyer calling for a Wednesday evening "emergency rally" at Powder House Square Park in Somerville. Her detention comes as Israel has renewed its military assault on the Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of civilians in air strikes over the past week and promising the territory's "complete destruction and devastation" if Hamas does not hand over the remaining Israeli hostages.
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